Oil for small engine

[Paul in the woods]

My little walking excavator has a small 4-stroke engine to power the hydraulics. It's a Jiang Dong 270 (I've never heard of them either).

 

Now the makers of the digger tell me to use 10W40 or 15W40 oil but the engine instructions tell me to use 10W30 which I tend to normally use in my 4-stroke lawn mowers.

 

Is there likely to be a reason for using 10W40 oil, it's more viscous at higher temps so does this suggest the digger manufacturers think the engine will be running hotter than other uses?

 

Also is there any particular brand of oil that's better than others?

[Breezeblock]

on the honda gx engines or copies I use normal 15w40 and never had one fail well not from engine wear the last one I replaced was flattened by a lorry but that doesn't count

[Paul in the woods]

Any particular brand of oil?

 

Having done a bit of reading it would seem old 10w40 oil may have been prone to breaking down and 10w30 or sae30 was recommended. These days with part or full synthetic oil you often seem to find 10w40 used.

 

I'm tempted to buy a few litres of decent semi-synth 4-stroke motorbike oil such as Castrol Power 1 as it's not much more expensive than cheap garden power tool oil. I assume it can't be bad for an engine as long as I keep an eye on the level? It meets the API SL standard the manual requires.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

The Multigrade numbers being mentioned here are meaningless in the context of the question.

 

10W40 vs 15W40 if from the same brand will be the same cSt at 100 and the 10 slightly thinner when cold. Bugger all in it. One makes 5W30 might be thicker than anothers 10W40.

 

SOP for a single cylinder Petrol engine is 10W30. Once a little older you might want to go to a 10W40 or thicker to maintain moft in wider clearances.

 

Oil is cheap, as they say.

 

All of the above is then fairly irrelevant in the bigger picture of basestock and additives.

 

Viscocity ratings are NOT a measure of quality or performance in service.

Edited February 1, 2017 by TimberCutterDartmoor

[Paul in the woods]

SOP for a single cylinder Petrol engine is 10W30. Once a little older you might want to go to a 10W40 or thicker to maintain moft in wider clearances.

 

Oil is cheap, as they say.

 

All of the above is then fairly irrelevant in the bigger picture of basestock and additives.

 

That's roughly what I thought, I just use Honda 10w30 oil in my Honda mower as it meets the API recommendation. I can't find 10w40 oil aimed at garden machinery which is why I was puzzled to see that recommended by the manufacturer and no mention of the API.

 

As for the additives, any commonly found brand you'd recommend for a 4-stroke small engine?

[Benny4817]

i use 15w-40 in all my machines petrol or diesel except a countax mower that i use 10w-30 also use SLICK 50 friction reducer have done the above for over 25 years in vans chippers and all and all have run great no issues at all i take that as i have been MEGA MEGA lucky with no probs or what i have used has done them well lol

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

That's roughly what I thought, I just use Honda 10w30 oil in my Honda mower as it meets the API recommendation. I can't find 10w40 oil aimed at garden machinery which is why I was puzzled to see that recommended by the manufacturer and no mention of the API.

 

As for the additives, any commonly found brand you'd recommend for a 4-stroke small engine?

 

I'm a Redline dealer so I'm biased!

 

Start it off on a mineral product then move to atleast PAO synthetic once run in.

[Pinkfoot]

I'm a Redline dealer so I'm biased!

 

Start it off on a mineral product then move to atleast PAO synthetic once run in.

I need some Redline oils for my motor.[emoji12]

 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Arbtalk mobile app

[Richard Thompson]

In small mower type engines or small light plant engines I generally use 30W oil for classic cars or the Briggs stuff. I find it's better for clients mowers and my equipment with less wear on the internal parts

[NFG]

I use 10w-30 in my small engines IAW the manufacturers recomended grade. I have a Grillo 'walking tractor' which takes 10w-40.

 

I use synthetic oil, but semi synthetic oil would be fine, its important to change oil at recommended interval as there is no oil filter with most small engines.

 

My 600cc B&S lawn tractor is 1996 & I have a Tecumseh powered lawnmower purchased second hand in 1993 so unsure how old it is - over 24 years for sure. Both run very well.

 

N